Half a year on, what’s changed?

Not a lot, in fact despite increasing Twitter followers by an average of 68 per cent in six months, and pumping out more tweets than ever before, engagement with followers is poor and overall levels of influence remain exactly the same as they were.

What’s clear from the study is that only companies that are genuinely innovating in social media are performing well. Typically these organisations comprise elements of each of the following within their engagement with audiences on Twitter:

Informative – they Tweet genuinely interesting information about their company and the industry they’re in

Participative – it’s not a ‘broadcast only’ channel, companies invite feedback from their followers –even if that can sometimes be negative

Fun – they lighten the mood every now and again, competitions are a good example of how to engage audiences and keep an informal but still business-like tone

Image via CrunchBase

If you’re a managing comms for a software brand and would like to take a look at our analysis, see how we’re using Twitter as part of a fast-changing media mix for our clients and discuss how best to evaluate what you invest in this area, do get in touch (mailto:socialmedia@speedcommunications.com).

This week, Marvel Comics’ latest big screen adaptation, Avengers Assemble, has arrived in UK cinemas to rave reviews. It marks the beginning of the summer blockbuster season and, with The Dark Knight Rises and Prometheus coming up, the competition is set to be fierce.

Behind the scenes, Hollywood’s business brains have for a long time turned to research firms and Box Office gurus to poll consumers and to track awareness in the lead up to a new release, in order to forecast a film’s success and adjust marketing budgets accordingly. Now, in the age of social media, a far more sophisticated methodology for gaining this business insight is becoming increasingly popular.

Alongside the release of Avengers, the FT reported that the film’s studio has brought in social data analytics in order to predict and track the movie’s success. Fizziology, which trawls through tweets, blogs and other social network data, has been able to forecast to a relative degree of accuracy, just how well the blockbuster will fair financially. “Why are you asking people for their opinions when they are offering them voluntarily on social media?”, asks Ben Carlson, co-creator of Fizziology. He makes a good point – there is so much data out there which is just waiting to be harnessed for the benefit of businesses and consumers alike, across a wide range of industries. Around 12 terabytes of Tweets are created daily!

Allowing patterns to be uncovered in vast amounts of information, ‘Big Data’ has been dubbed as one of 2012’s major business trends. But it’s not just the volume that earns Big Data its title, it’s the variety – and that includes the social data being scanned by the likes of Fizziology. This sentiment analysis relies on the public’s broadcasting of amateur reviews or shared thoughts with friends and connections, all part of the internet’s fostering of citizen journalism. We enjoy getting up on the soapbox which social networks offer us. Do you tweet or post on Facebook as you leave the cinema? Have you thought about how the sentiment you express online becomes a part of a bigger picture?

Here at Speed we’re based on London’s Leicester Square – home of the film premiere. We’re looking forward to the red carpet rolling out again and I’m sure we’ll be tweeting our thoughts on the likes of Avengers Assemble as the blockbuster season begins in earnest.

This weekend I attended The Gadget Show Live at the National Exhibition Centre. Inspired by the Channel 5 programme, it’s the UK’s largest consumer technology exhibition and lets visitors have some hands on fun with the very latest and upcoming technology. Here’s my top five from across the halls:

1. JCDecaux – future of outdoors advertising

This set of cutting edge advertisements included a McCain’s jacket potato bill board which regularly sprayed the scent of freshly baked potatoes at unsuspecting passers-by before distributing vouchers from the base. This reminded me of the artificial chocolate smell pumped out by M&Ms World just across from Speed’s offices, designed to lure shoppers in. This exhibit also featured an interactive advert which you can ‘explore’ with your hand movements.

2. NeuroSky – mind-powered toys and tools

NeuroSky were demonstrating technology that responds to brainwave impulses, including a ping pong ball assault course. With the use of a headset the player can alter the air levels to guide the ball through the obstacle course by increasing and decreasing mental concentration accordingly. The technology senses electrical brainwaves and processes them into digital signals which power the use of games, computers and ‘investigational medical applications’.

3. O2 – NFC ‘Treats on Tap’ and ‘Wallet’

O2 were showing off an NFC (Near Field Communication) vending machine which allowed certain smartphone handsets to make touchless payment for goodies. Also on show was the forthcoming app ‘O2 Wallet’ which brings mobile money payments, online shopping/comparison (like the Amazon iPhone app) and location-based and user-tailored offers, into one place. After some delays, the app is currently being piloted and is due to launch soon.

4. Using the force with Star Wars Kinect

Using the XBox Kinect console, which replaces traditional hand-controller for body recognition gameplay, the new Star Wars game allows players to manipulate the force, wield light-sabers and captain spacecraft – with your own movements. A geek’s dream come true!

5. Super Theatre

Hosted by The Gadget Show TV presenters, the show featured explosive stunts, challenges and in true Gadget Show style, an epic competition which set chosen tweeting audience members against one another in an epic battle on stage. Too many lasers, robots and flying machines to mention, but a great way to round off the jam-packed line up!

Image via Wikipedia

The ‘open journalism’ campaign began back in October when the newspaper took the decision to open up its daily news planning to the public, on the live newsroom, in a bid to demonstrate greater transparency and encourage a new level of reader participation. This, and now the advert casting the multi-channel paper as a comprehensive and trustworthy source of news, attempts to illustrate the paper as ‘the good guy’, in particular contrast to the media parties currently investigated by the Leveson inquiry.

The Three Little Pigs video also serves to legitimise Social Media as an advocate of traditional media and not the enemy. Social Media has given rise to increased citizen journalism, whether it be via words, pictures or videos, broadcast on blogs, social networking sites and so on. This video seeks to bring Social Media into the fold, embracing its merit rather than resisting or fearing it. The video tries to give an idea of how Social Media can be harnessed, complimenting other forms of media, to give a ‘complete picture’ of the news.

The advert also strikes me as being remarkably similar in style to Charlie Brooker’s recent trilogy of dystopian fables, ‘Black Mirror’. It is edited in the same quick-fire way to make it fast-paced, with text over-lapping the action and voice-overs creating a series of montages to illustrate the breaking news. These Channel 4 dramas examined several 21st century themes, including Social Media, and highlighted its increasing power. In the first episode, Social Media was well and truly one step ahead of traditional media which was barred from broadcasting a ransom video which had already gone viral on the internet. Where they differ, of course, is that The Guardian video claims authority over Social Media. Also, as a side note, the fate of the pig in Brooker’s ‘Black Mirror’ is disturbingly different, but I won’t go there at this time of the morning!

Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger says that The Guardian’s ‘open’ approach to journalism is leading the way in moving the newspaper beyond a newspaper. The alignment of ‘web, print, tablet and mobile’ at the conclusion of the advert neatly summarises the direction that the consumption of media is heading in. Check out the video below, and prepare yourself also for some serious revelations about the Three Little Pigs..!

Tapas and tablets

In Barcelona it’s incredibly easy to find bad tapas. The same can probably be said for MWC and tablet devices. It’s not like the conference has been inundated with tablets, unlike the Met, not that many manufacturers are giving out tablets, let alone horses. There are however a few devices on show, without naming any names, that just make you stop and think “really? This is what you’re pinning your tablet hopes on for the next 12 months? No putting it in to a Porsche doesn’t make it any better.”

With that out of the way, whats been catching the eye so far? Here’s a quick run down of what’s caught my interest.

There can only be One

HTC has come under fire over the last year as it has perhaps churned out handset after handset without much thought in attempt to flood the market with Android devices. It seemed to be heading down a dead end street – quantity over quality.

It might have been Google’s acquisition of Motorola last year that gave the company the jolt it needed to try a little harder, but whatever it was, it seems to have worked. HTC arguably have the phone of the conference with the One X. It’s a beautiful device, that will definitely be giving the likes of Samsung a run for its money in the Android stakes this year. You can also bet that the guys from Apple walking the floor at this year’s show (you can’t see them, but make no mistake they’re here – like undercover CIA agents), will definitely be taking note of the HTC One series phones.

Nothing to Note from Samsung

As it pulled showing the Galaxy S III at MWC, Samsung is giving the Note a huge push, but can it bring the stylus back from oblivion?

What actually caught my eye on the Samsung stand was a couple of laptops it had – very Apple-esque in terms of looks. One of them seems a little too close for comfort to the MacBook Air. Needless to say, very nice pieces of kit.

Huwei and ZTE handsets are coming to the UK in April. Two of the biggest device manufacturers in Asia will be distributing a number of devices through operator partners from Q2 this year. Both have been showing off some powerful hardware, prodominently running Android and the occasional Windows phone. Definitely two to keep an eye on this year.

Nokia Adventures

Taking a leaf out of Android’s MWC 2011 play book, Nokia (with some of Microsoft’s budget) has taken it one step further. Taking over one of the top sections of Hall 7, half of the Nokia experience is about devices, such as the Lumia 900 and the 808 (42mp camera phone). That’s right, a phone with a 42megapixel sensor for the camera. It’s certainly grabbed a lot of headlines but can you imagine trying to upload that photo to Facebook or Twitter while on the go?! It would take forever and cost as much as the phone itself.

The other half of Nokia’s space is purely a place for people meet and sit down, drink free coffee, eat free popcorn and jump on the free wifi – which is fantastic. By doing this Nokia gets a lot of people to come sit down, do their business around a healthy dose of Nokia people and continuous videos showing videos of the latest handsets and what Nokia’s doing throughout the week. Even if it might have been done with some Microsoft money, well played Nokia. Well played.

PayPaella

PayPal and ebay have a big presence this year and perhaps rightly so given the push around mobile commerce they’ve been making this last year. Set up as more of a demo experience, the stand has a number of items visitors can scan with a QR code reader to go through a purchase process (CHECK).

It’s a great idea but it seems to be preaching to the choir. Most of the industry knows how PayPal is being implemented across events etc. the bigger push has to be around wider consumer education and adoption.

PayPal has put itself to the test for congress delegates by having a code to scan to skip the long queues outside for paella and get €1 off the price. Great stuff….The problem with this however, is that when you advertise that code all over the place, you start to get long queues of people who have scanned to avoid the queue.

It is, unfortunately, inevitable to be queuing for pretty much everything at MWC, from coffee to chairs, taxis to toilets, there isn’t really a way around it. Much like the fragmented approach to mobile payments….which is something for another blog post, another time.

The concern is that most people who are likely to buy a PS Vita will already have a smartphone in their pocket, which is plumbed straight into a massive library of casual and most importantly, improbably cheap games.

Sony and its supporters will argue vehemently that the target audience for its hand-held consoles won’t be interested in these casual games and are looking for a more traditional ‘hardcore’ gaming experience. Fair enough, but as a portable device, the core idea is to be picked up and played when you’re on the move. For most people that’s going to be when they’re commuting on their way to or from work, a friend’s house or college/university – and unless they have an unreasonably long commute (or friends in the Outer Hebrides) I don’t see how these people will have more than 30 minutes or so to play a game most of the time.

Typically a AAA game delivering a ‘hardcore’ experience will give you upwards of eight hours of gameplay – in many cases exponentially more – and I don’t know how this can translate into the bite-size chunks of time that the portable format is really suited to. I just can’t see the PS Vita getting much purchase on a market that is dominated by mobile gaming, where you can drop in and out of a game like Cut The Rope or Tilt to Live (a personal favourite of mine) at pretty much any time. The margins are much lower, yes, but mobile gaming is a volume game – with smaller studios able to produce and sell nonsensical fun (i.e. the plot summary of Angry Birds) to the mass market with much lower development costs.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m an ardent gamer and I’d like to see the PS Vita do well for itself. But I can’t help but wonder if the days of the dedicated handheld are slipping away from us as the competition from multi-faceted devices (i.e. smartphones) gets stronger and stronger. It’s not just the handheld market that’s perhaps in danger but the premium price point. How long will people be willing to pay £40/£50 for a console game, especially when publishers and studios are implementing further purchase options in to games using the likes of the PSN and Xbox live?

After the disappointment of the 3DS, if the PS Vita doesn’t get it right the handheld market will slip through the fingers of the big studios.

Here are a few snippets:

On 9 January, Netflix, the popular US TV and film streaming service launched in the UK, giving our client ANT Software, a digital TV specialist, the opportunity to air its opinion on the connected TV market.  Result: Five pieces of national newspaper coverage in January: Telegraph: Netflix launches in Britain, How Netflix and Lovefilm are reshaping movie rentals, Connected TVs will be the norm in 2015 and Blockbuster exclusive rentals target Lovefilm and Netflix.

On 18 January, we pitched a story about the opening of Associated Press’ new news bureau in North Korea – the first international news bureau of any agency in North Korea. The story was centred on the recent death of Kim Jong II, explaining how Associated Press writers and photojournalists can work in North Korea on a regular basis, documenting the people, places and politics Korea across all media platforms at a critical time in the country’s history. Executive editor, Kathleen Carroll appeared live on BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show, while other coverage was spread across the news hour slot on BBC World Service, Daily Mail, The Independent The Guardian and the BBC.

On 22 January, Phil Packer, founder of the British Inspiration Trust appeared on Sky News Sunrise. Phil talked about his 2012-mile walk this year and his vision to build a ‘centre of excellence’ for young people facing adversity. Sky News is broadcast to an average 1.5 million people.

On 23 January, Tesco Beauty’s Skin Wisdom Day was featured in a fashion and beauty article in the Daily Express designed to help Brits beat the January blues.

On 25 January, The European Commission outlined planned changes to EU data protection rules that included a ‘right to be forgotten’ clause. Jonathan Gale, CEO of NewVoiceMedia, talked about why Facebook and cloud computing companies are better positioned to adopt the legislation – BBC World News

On 27 January, John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of The Economist, was interviewed on CNN’s World Business Today programme. John spoke live on the issues discussed at Davos, and where the world’s economy now stands compared to at the previous World Economic Forum. CNN airs to 200 million-plus homes in 200 countries.

I’ve never run a session yet that hasn’t celebrated both the art and science of newsjacking, and the insight behind strong creation of a client’s own headlines. Well done to the team.

This weekend, I took part in a ‘geocaching’ challenge for the first time with a group of friends. Whilst our treasure-hunt was just a bit of fun that finished in the pub, geocaching is fast becoming a global craze – and it got me thinking about its potential for experiential marketing and publicity campaigns.

Geocaching is essentially an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which participants (Geocachers) use a Global Positioning System (GPS) such as Google Maps on a smartphone to locate hidden containers (called “caches”). A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and “treasure”, usually toys or trinkets of little value. Online ARGs (alternate reality games) are used fairly regularly to build interest in a launch or event, so why can’t the same kind of treasure hunt take place in the ‘real’ world?

'Tomb Raider' Image via Wikipedia

In fact, Crystal Dynamics and Geocaching.com have already got the ball rolling with this and have recently announced a tie-in to promote the upcoming ninth instalment in the Tomb Raider video game series. Explaining how the project will drive engagement, Karl Stewart, global brand director for Tomb Raider and Crystal Dynamics, said “It’s the perfect fit for Tomb Raider and to be able to create a series of worldwide Geocaching treasure hunts for Tomb Raider is going to be a lot of fun”.

I for one am keen to see how the brand creates parameters to protect against the potentially unruly nature of the activity, as this definitely wouldn’t create good publicity! At its best though, geocaching and similar experiential activities have the potential to allow an audience to participate rather than simply consume; it’s an excellent way to bring things to life, make it memorable, and engender loyalty. These kind of transmedia campaigns are set to become increasingly popular as brands and businesses compete for cut-through.

I’m not sure how alike to Lara Croft or Indiana Jones we got as we scurried around looking suspicious in Putney on Saturday, but it really was great fun.

As expected, the event saw a number of major cloud services being launched with cloud infrastructure management software and services company 6fusion, announcing the release of its next generation UC6 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) federation platform; and secure cloud hosting company Firehost, revealing the launch of its European cloud. However, the real meat to the event was hearing IT experts approaching cloud computing as a maturing technology, demonstrating quality high-end and hybrid cloud services, and debating how it weighs up against competitive alternatives.

Moving beyond product and technical features, it finally feels like the ‘cloud haze’ for many vendors has cleared and they are refocusing on the real issues, the business benefits and what role cloud has as part of the wider business strategy. As with any trend, the issue for many vendors now is how they will differentiate themselves as aggressive competition rises. Unsurprisingly, the datacentre market was one that was out in force at the show, with key players Equinix, Interxion and Telehouse all launching new cloud offerings and initiatives.

Steep competition amongst datacentres has been spurred by advancements in virtualisation frameworks from VMware, Red Hat, Citrix and Microsoft. Those who attended the show with a clear objective to find a solution to make that transition to the cloud will have left with more questions than answers, due to the sheer number of new and sophisticated services now being made available in the cloud.

What last week confirmed for the IT industry is that as the cloud market matures, some aspects will become clearer but as cloud enters the phase of reality, competition from hybrid and traditional technologies will still place a vital role in business.

Image via Wikipedia

Tetley grabbed my attention today when a friend let me know about its social media campaign. The firm already upped its marketing ante by bringing back the Tea Folk in television adverts so the next natural step was for Tetley to brew up a storm in the social media space.

It took me until 11am this morning to realise Tetley were conducting a competition on Twitter, which was to simply start following @tetley_teafolk and retweet one of their posts. This competition has already been incredibly effective with Twitter followers jumping up from 38,281 to over 39,000 (at the time of writing). The giveaway is a year’s supply of teabags and as a nation of tea-drinkers I think it constitutes as a pretty good prize that won’t even break the bank for Tetley, but will do wonders for its brand advocacy.

Another company ramping up its social media efforts is bmibaby; the airline has put a competition on Twitter to add cheer to a dull January day. On Friday, 20th January, bmibaby announced it would be giving away five pairs of tickets to help its followers make someone’s January special. Anyone who’s on Twitter will know about the ‘Follow Friday’ hash tag – #ff – used to suggest people to follow. The competition from bmibaby is, effectively, an extension of this; you nominate your friend using the hash tag #ffff, which stands for “Free Flight Follow Friday”.

So, are brands finally waking up to social media or are the just becoming less scared of it? With 61% of UK adults using social media sites it demonstrates that it’s a marketing opportunity not to be missed!

Brands should absolutely be looking to integrate social media into their marketing strategies to take advantage of such a vast audience. However, brands should proceed with caution – consumers see Twitter as a different way of marketing; it’s about dialogue and a sense of community. With Twitter, consumers have a direct communications channel with a brand and one that’s in a public forum, which if not handled carefully and respectfully can turn very bad, very quickly for a brand.

P.S The Tetley competition ends at 5pm today when a winner will be announced. Having now lived in England for the last couple of years I, too, have taken on the tea-drinking way of life and entered this competition; I’ve had my fingers crossed since 11am.